Paper positioning means for business machines



Oct. 24, 1961 J. c. MORRIS 3,005,534

PAPER POSITIONING MEANS FOR BUSINESS MACHINES Filed June 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F|G.l Agata INVENTOR. JOHN C. MORR/S ATTORNEY Get, 24, 1961 J. c. MORRIS 3,005,534

PAPER POSITIONING MEANS FOR BUSINESS MACHINES Filed June 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I i Q g [0 INVENTOR. JOHN C. MORR/S A Z TOR/V5 Y FIG? 3,005,534 PAPER IGSITIONING MEANS FGR BUSINESS MACHINES John C. Morris, East Norwalk, (:121., assignor to $perry Rand Corporation, New York, N311, a corporation of Delaware Fiied June 11, 1959, Ser. No. 819,536 13 Claims. ((31. 197114) This invention relates to paper positioning mechanism for power or manually operated business machines. It may be used to advantage on any business machine which feeds and positions paper by means of a rotatable platen, including machines such as typewriters, calculators, tabulators, adding machines, etc. The invention more particularly relates to platen rotating mechanism which may be operated automatically to effect a variable number of line space intervals and a platen rotating mechanism which may be operated manually to eifect a 'predeter mined number of line space intervals.

In business machines having rotatable platens, it is desirable to have these platens removable so that they may be periodically cleaned and replaced. A problem is encountered in the construction of a mechanism to rotate the platen and still have such mechanism not interfere with the ease of removal of the platen. While some of the mechanisms known and in use allow for platen removal, these mechanisms are quite complex in their operation and construction, thereby necessitating great expense in their manufacture and maintenance. It is also desirable to have these platen rotating devices easily removable for cleaning and repair, and the known devices which allow for platen removal do not allow for easy removal of the devices, thus increasing machine maintenance costs. The construction of the known devices is such that they must be attached to the machines when the machines are manufactured, thus preventing a later user of the machine from adapting it to his own particular needs.

The mechanism herein disclosed transcends those problems set forth above and will simplify the operation of machines so equipped. Certain standard operations, such as the typing of forms with a typewriter, will also be simplified. A bill form, for instance, may be inserted in a typewriter and brought to the correct predetermined position by the manual mechanism disclosed herein and then the automatic mechanism will eifect consecutive line spacing as required. The manual mechanism can then advance the form, where a continuous form is being used, to the predetermined position for the first line of typing on the next form. If separate form sheets are being used. the manual mechanism will assure that all forms will be brought to a uniform position to accept the first line of typing. The automatic mechanism can be used in business machines such as calculators and adding machines to vary the number of blank lines between each line of printing. The manual mechanism could there be used to assure a large space between groups of printing if so desired.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a business machine having a removable platen with a readily detached platen rotating mechanism which is capable of automatically effecting a variable number or line space intervals.

It is another object of the invention to provide a business machine having a removable platen with an easily detached manual platen rotating mechanism which may be adjusted to effect a greater number of line space increments and which may be easily attached to a business machine not so equipped.

For a better understanding of the invention together 3,005,534 Patented Oct. 24,- 1961 with other and further objects thereof, reference is had to the following description takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims. For the sake of simplicity, the description and the accompanying drawings are limited to an embodiment of the invention as attached to a power operated typewriter. It is to be expressly understood that the scope of the invention is by no means limited to use on the type of business machine herein described.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of the invention, showing an automatic platen spacing mechanism, a left side portion of a typewriter platen, and a portion of the side frame,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, looking in the direction of arrows 22 of FIG. 1, showing the platen rotating mechanism in position for indexing one line space upon carriage return,

FIG. 3 is a partial side elevational view, looking in the direction of arrows '33 of FIG. 1, showing the platen rotating mechanism in position for indexing three line spaces upon carriage return,

FIG. 4 is a side elevational View similar to FIG. 3, and showing the platen rotating mechanism during the cycle of indexing one line space, V

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of the invention, showing a'manual platen spa'cingmechanism, a right side portion of a typewriter platen, and a portion of the side frame,

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view, looking in the direction of arrows 66 of FIG. 5, showing the platen rotating mechanism in its normal, non-operating position,

FIG. 7'is a side elevational view, looking in the direction of arrows 7-7 of FIG. 5, showing the platen rotating mechanism during the operating cycle of indexing the platen through a multiple of line spaces, 7

FIG. 8 is a face view of a portion of the platen driving mechanism shown in non-operating position, 2

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing the mechanlsm in operating position, and

FIG. 10 is a section on the line 10-10, of FIG. 9, showing the relation of the parts and connections therebetween. V

Referring now more particularly to the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1-4, in FIG. 1 the platen shaft 12, extending from the platen 11, is rotatably journaled in the left side frame 13 and the right side frame 16 (FIG. 5) of the carriage (not shown) in such a manner that platen llmay be easily removed. The knobs 14 and 17 (FIG. 5) are attached to the platen shaft 12 so that manual IO-, tation of the platen 11 may be effected by rotation of knob 14 or 17. A line space ratchet 15 is mounted on the platen shaft 12 and rotates with platen 11 through a well known clutch mechanism (not shown).

The entire line space mechanism of FIG. 1 is mounted on a plate side frame 13 by means of three mounting screws 21. In FIG. 2 an end of a carriage return tape 25 is pivotally attached to the actuating arm 26 as at 27 and actuating arm 26 is mounted on plate 24} so that said arm 26 may rotate about pivot 28. The tape 25 passes over suitable rollers to abelt drum and clutch combination not illustrated here but fully disclosed in FIG. 3 of-Patent 2,874,

369 granted to A. Blain et alJon February 17, 1959, and in which the belt 37 is a counterpart of the tape 25 herein. On each carriage return operation of the clutch, the

tape is pulled and provides an operation of said actuating arm 26 against the resistance of spring 29. V The actuating arm 26 is. held in the position shown in FIG. 2

' by the spring 29. A vertically disposed actuating slide 20 which is removably attached to the leftv 30 is pivotally mounted at its lower end on the actuating arm 26 through a lower slide pin 31, which is free to slide in the lower slot 33 of the plate 20. Attached in the upper end of the actuating slide 30 is the upper slide pin 32 which is free to slide in an upper slot 34 of plate 20. Pivotally mounted on upper slide pin 32 is a pawl 35 having an engaging tooth 36 and a bearing arm 37. A spring 38 connecting the actuating slide 30 and the pawl 35 exerts pressure to rotate pawl 35 in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 2) causing the bearing arm 37 of pawl 35 to bear against an adjusting arm 39. An adjusting lever 40, which is rotatably mounted on plate 2!} as at 41, limits the upward motion'of adjusting arm 39 by means of the adjusting lever stop 42. The spring 43 yieldably maintains the adjusting arm 39 against the ad justing lever stop 42.

The teeth in the line space ratchet are so arranged that the distance between teeth constitutes the normal typewriter line space increment.; A detent roll 48, which is rotatably mounted on detent lever 49 by a pivot pin 47, is held in contact with the teeth of the line space ratchet 15 by a spring 50, the detent lever 49 being pivot-ally mounted on plate as at 28. A detent release arm 51 is mounted on plate 20 pivotally as at 52 and at its lower finger portion 53 is provided with a cam having upper and lower detent seats 56 and 57, respectively. The seat or notch 56 ils shallow enough to hold the roller 48 out of engagement with the teeth so that the operator can revolve the platen freely without having to hold the detent release arm 51 manually. When the pin 47 seats in notch 57, the roller 48 moves to the detent functioning position and remains in such position until the arm 51 is again adjusted.

When the carriage return tape is operated (FIG. 4) it will swing the arm 26 and through pin 31 pull the slide downwardly. In FIG. 2, the adjusting arm 39 has been set by lever to provide a single increment of platen line spacing movement. Engagement of the free end of the arm 39 with the pawl 35 defines the amount of travel the pawl may have in the slot 34. As the slide moves down, the lower end of the pawl 35 will be swung toward the periphery of the ratchet 15 by the spring 38, which maintains the bearing arm 37 of the pawl against the under side of the free end of the arm 39, and causes rotary motion of the pawl about its pivot slide pin 32 until the ratchet 15 is engaged. The continued downward movement of the slide 30 will turn the platen 11 one line space increment until the pawl 35 engages the stop 55. The latter is pivoted on the stud 52 and is slotted for adjustment peripherally of the ratchet 15. In FIG. 3 adjusting arm 39 has been set for a three increment movement of the platen, in which instance the slide has risen so that the pawl 35 engages the free end of the arm 39. The increased distance the pawl 35 will travel downwardly over the amount shown in FIG. 2. will provide for a three line space movement of the platen 11 after the pawl 35 engages the ratchet 15 when the slide 30 is'pulled down as above described. The adjusted position of the arm 39 determines the amount that the pawl 35 will travel in platen rotating action.

It is sometimes desirable to freely rotate platen 11 without engagement of detent roll 48. -Rotation of the detent release arm 51in a clockwise direction (FIG. 2) causes the lower cam end thereof to rotate detent lever 49 away from line space ratchet 15 and hold the detent roll 48 disengaged from the line space ratchet 15. Platen 11 may now be freely rotated. The disengagement of the detent roll 48 has no efiect upon the operation of line spacing during carriage return. When the detent roll 48 is engaged with the ratchet wheel 15 the pressure exerted on the roller 48 by spring 50 makes certain that platen 11 will always be brought to a position of uniform spacing from its previous position.

Referring now to the embodiment depicted in FIGS.

5-10, there is shown a platen rotating mechanism capable justing stop 71.

of manually rotating the platen 11 through a large number of line spaces. A mounting plate 62 (FIG. 6) is attached to the right side frame 16 (FIG. 5) by means of two attaching screws 63 in such a manner that said mounting plate 62 may be easily removed. A platen rotating gear segment 64 having a lever end 65 and a stop pin 67 is rotatably mounted on the mounting plate 62 as at 66. Also rotatably connected to mounting plate 62 at 66 is a throw adjusting, lever 70. A throw adjusting stop 71 is pivotally mounted as at 72 on lever 7t! and connected by spring 73 to said throw adjusting lever. The underside of the stop 71 is curved and provided with shallow teeth 75 to allow the stop to be readily slid in adjusting movement over the teeth 76 on the upper edge of the semicircular mounting plate 62, by operation of the throw adjusting lever 78. The stop 71 is further provided with a cam end 77 over which the stop pin 67 rides to abut the stop edge 78 to prevent the stop 71 from riding out of the teeth 76 and thus provide an eiiective limit means for the throw of the gear segment 64 in platen operating movement. As shown in FIG. 5 a driven collar 80 is slidably mounted on platen shaft 12 and secured for rotation with the platen shaft 12 by a pin 31. Also slidably mounted on platen shaft 12 is a drive gear 82 which meshes with the toothed edge of the platen rotating gear segment 64; idler gear 83 being adjacent thereto. A semi-circulardrive dog 84 lies against the face of the gear 83 and is so positioned that the teeth 84A thereof can mesh with theteeth of the driven collar The drive gear 82 is shaped to provide a sleeve portion 74 on which is mounted both a drive collar 89 and the idler gear 83, the collar being suitably fixed to the gear 82. When the gear segment 64 is pulled forward it will rotate the drive gear 82 and the collar disk 89 clockwise (FIG. 8) so that a pin 85 fixed in the collar 89 will swing the semi-circular drive dog 84 about its pivot pin 86 so that the teeth 84A of the dog will mesh with the driven collar 80. The continued movement of the gear segment 64 will turn the platen through the pin 81 until the movement of the gear segment is arrested by the throw stop 71. The pin 86 is secured in the idler gear 83 and extends through a slot 87 in the collar 89. The pin 35 is fixed at one end in the collar 89 and at the other end in the free end of the drive dog 84,.a slot 88 in the gear 83 allowing for movement of the dog.

In FIG. 6 the mechanism is shown in normal nonoperating position, the parts being so held under the force of a spring 93 acting between the mounting plate 62 and the gear segment 64. The idler gear 83 is yieldably held. for movement by a drag pinion whose spring 92, mounted on a stud 94 supplies the drag necessary for the pinion 90. The drag supplied by pinion 90 prevents idler gear 83 from rotating when rotation is manually imparted to the platen 11 through knob 14 or 17 or when rotation is imparted to said platen by action of the mechanism shown in FIGS. 1-4. When the idler gear 83 is stationary, relative movement between said idler gear 83 and the drive disk 89, that would throw the dog 84 into engagement with the drive gear 82, is prevented, thus preventing the mechanism shown in FIGS. 5-10 from interfering with rotation of the platen 11.

Correspondence between the number of teeth on driven collar 80 (FIG. '5) and line space ratchet 15 (FIG. 1) makes certain that indexing will always be a multiple or line space increments. If the lever 65 is pulled to efiect rotation of the platen 11, said lever will continue to move until the stop pin 67 engages the throw ad- At this point it is not certain that the detent roll 48 (FIG. 2) is engaging a space between the teeth of the line space ratchet 15. However, when the lever 65 (FIG. 6) is allowed to return to its rest position under the force of the spring 93, the spring 50 (FIG. 2) will exert sufficient force on the detent roll 48 to rotate the platen 11 until said detent roll engages a space between the teeth of the line space ratchet 15. Thus, uniform line spacing is always assured.

While therehas been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. p

What is claimed is: g

1'.- In a business machine, in combination, a platen frame, a platen, a shaft for revolvably mounting the platen in the frame, a slotted mounting plate detachably secured to said frame slide means, pins in the; slide means engaging the slots of the mounting plate, actuating means for vertically reciprocating said slide means, ratchet wheel means associated with said platen for moving the latter in line spacing increments, a ratchet operating pawl pivotally mounted on one of said pins and biased for swinging movement for engagement with said ratchet wheel means, an adjusting arm pivoted to said mounting plate and biased for movement at its free end away from said pawl, and an adjusting lever for engagement with said adjusting arm at spaced points to hold the free end of the latter at different positions to limit the upward movement of said slide means and define the extent of ratchet wheel operation by said pawl in downward movement.

2. In a business machine, in combination, a platen frame, a platen, a shaft for revolvably mounting the platen in the frame, a slotted mounting plate detachably Secured to said frame, slide means, pins in the slide means engaging the slots of the mounting plate, actuating means. for vertically reciprocating said slide means, ratchet wheel means associated with said platen for moving the latter in line spacing increments, a ratchet operating pawl pivotally mounted on one of said pins and biased for swinging movement for engagement with said ratchet Wheel means, an adjusting arm pivoted to said plate and biased for movement at its free end away from said pawl, and an adjusting lever for engagement with said arm at spaced points to hold the free end of the latter at different positions to limit the upward movement of said slide means and define the extent of ratchet wheel operation by said pawl in downward movement, said adjusting arm coacting with said slide means for controlling the biasedv swinging movement of said pawl to engage said line space means during a downward movement of said pawl.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 including detent roller means for engaging the ratchet wheel means to hold the platen at selected line spacepositions, and detent controlling means for holding the roller means in non-operating position.

4. In a business machine, the combination with a platen frame, a platen and a platen carrying shaft disposed in said frame; of platen rotating means on said shaft including a sleeved driven gear means having a pin and slot connection to said shaft, drive gear means including an idler gear, a disk and a drive pawl, said disk and pawl being arranged in flanking relation to said idler gear, means for pivotally connecting the pawl at its opposite ends with said idler gear and said disk respectively, a drive gear connected to said disk and operable to initially engage the pawl with said driven gear means and to thereafter rotate said platen shaft through said driven gear means, and means for manually controlling the operation of said drive gear.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 in which said means for manually controlling the operation of said drive gear includes a toothed mounting plate on said frame, segment gear means for operating said drive gear, and stop means adjustable on said mounting plate for limiting the operation of said segment gear means in rotating the platen to a selected position.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 including drag means for said idler gear for disengaging the pawl from said driven gear means by the relative movement between the idler gear and the disk when the segment gear means moves in reverse direction.

7. In a business machine, the combination with a platen frame, a platen and a platen carrying shaft disposed in said frame; of platen rotating means on said shaft including driven gear means secured to said shaft, drive gear means including an idler gear, a disk and a drive pawl, said disk and pawl being arranged in flanking relation to said idler gear, means for pivotally connecting the pawl at its opposite ends with said idler gear and said disk, respectively, a drive gear connected to said disk and .operable to initially engage the pawl with said driven gear means and thereafter rotate said platen shaft through said driven gear means, and adjustable means for manually controlling the operation of said drive gear to rotate the platen a predetermined extent.

8. The combination set forth in claim 7, in which said adjustable means includes a mounting plate having a serrated edge, a toothed throw adjusting stop means presenting a cam portion, a throw adjusting lever for slidably moving said stop means over the serrations of said mounting plate, segment gear means for operating the drive gear and stop pin means on said segment gear means for holding the teeth of the throw adjusting stop means in fixed engagement with the serrations of the mounting plate to provide an arresting means for said segment gear means.

9. In a business machine, the combination with a removable platen of a removable plate having upper and lower vertical slots therein, means mounted on said plate for engaging said platen and rotating said platen through a selected number of line space increments, including movable slide means, pins on said slide means riding in said slots of said plate, and pawl means on said slide means, means for preselecting the number of line space increments through which said platen will be rotated including adjusting means for controlling the extent of movement of said pawl means, and detent means for yieldably holding the platen at each line space increment.

10. In a business machine, the combination with a platen frame, a platen, and a platen carrying shaft removably disposed in said frame; of platen rotating means for said shaft at opposite ends of the platen, means including a slotted plate for detachably mounting said rotating means on the frame, cluding vertically movable slide means having a pin riding in a slot of said plate, pawl means yieldably pivoted on said pin and adjusting means engaging said pawl means to control the pivotal movement thereof independently of the movement of said slide means, and means on one of said rotating means for detaining the platen at a definite position of rotation afforded by the other of said rotating means.

11. In a business machine,

the combination with a platen frame, a platen, and a platen carrying shaft removably disposed in said frame; of platen rotating means for said shaft at opposite ends of the platen, one of said platen rotating means including vertically movable slide means, pawl means yieldably pivoted on said slide means, and adjusting means engaging said pawl means to control the pivotal movement thereof independently of the movement of said slide means, means for detachably mounting said rotating means on said frame, and means on one of said platen rotating means for detaining the platen at a definite position of rotation as afforded by either of said rotating means.

12. In a business machine, the combination with a platen frame, a platen, and a platen carrying shaft rotatably mounted in said frame; of line space means on said shaft, pawl means for operating said line space means to rotate the platen, slide means to which said pawl means is one of said platen rotating means inpivotedfor reciprocating the pawl means vertically, a slotted plate for detachably mounting said slide means on said platen frame, pins on said slide means engaging the slots in said slotted plate for guiding the slide means in vertical movement, adjustable means for varying the re ciprocating movement of said slide and pawl means, and stop means adjustable peripherally of said line space means for controlling the movement of'said pawl means in line spacing direction. I

13. In a business machine, the combination with a platen frame, a platen, and a platen carrying shaft rotatably mounted in said frame; of line space means on said shaft, pawl means'for operating said line space means to rotate the platen, slide means to which the pawl means is pivoted for reciprocating the t pawl means vertically, a

slotted plate for detachably mounting said slide means on said platen frame, guide pin means on said slide means engaging the slots of said plate, adjustable means for varying the reciprocating movement of said slide and pawl means, said adjustable means coacting with said slide means for moving said pawl means pivotally to engage said line space means during areciprocating excursion of said slide means, and means for controlling the movement of said pawl means in one direction. j

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 926,572 Kavle --June 29, 1909 1,595,985 Barney Aug. 17, 1926 1,606,362 Going Nov. 9, 1926 1,691,922 Dobson Nov. 20, 1928 1,957,322 Crumrine May .1, 1934 2,311,227 Handley et al Feb. 1 6, 1943 2,331,120 Hill et al Oct. 5, 1943 2,887,206 Hageman May 19, 1959 

